The War in the Pacific

Agenda

1. Bell Ringer: What is the message behind the following poster? (5)

2. Lecture: War in the Pacific (20)

3. History in film, the Doolittle Raid (12)

4. Dr. Seuss and World War II (10)

5. Bataan Death March video clip (6)

6. Bataan Death March Comparison (15)

7. The impact of Pearl Harbor (10)

Objective: Students will analyze war footage and compare the Bataan Death March to other war crimes in World War II

Attack on Pearl Harbor

• Partly caused by the United States cutting off oil shipments.

• Japanese believed that the fleet at Pearl Harbor had to be destroyed.

• 18 ships, and nearly 2,400 killed on December 7th, 1941.

• “A Day which will live in infamy”

War in the Pacific

• By February, 1942, the Japanese took Singapore and Burma, and most of the islands in the Pacific.

• Bataan Death March– Forced march in the

Philippines that led to the death of 80,000.

Doolittle Raid

• This was revenge for Pearl Harbor.

• 16 B-25 bombers sent from aircraft carriers to bomb Tokyo.

• Little damage, but it showed the United States that we COULD attack. Creates morale.

• Japanese call it the “do-nothing raid” to strengthen country.

Turning Points

• Battle of the Coral Sea stops the Japanese Advance in 1942.

• Battle of Midway, 1942– Nimitz was outnumbered

by Japanese ships and planes.

– He waited for Japanese to strike Midway, then he attacked the Japanese fleet, much like Pearl Harbor.

– Japanese would keep soldiers in quarantine, to limit the devastating effect of the battle.

General MacAuthur

• Begins Island-Hopping Campaign past Japanese strongholds and take weaker islands closer to Japan.

• Afterwards he would cut supply lines to the islands so Japanese troops would either surrender or starve.

• By 1943 the Japanese were retreating. America was winning the war in the Pacific.

Japanese Warfare

• Kamikazi pilots and samurai morals claim there is no retreat, only death.

• Japanese propaganda would vilify Americans, claiming they will kill women and children upon reaching the Japanese islands.

• Civilians would commit suicide instead of face American capture.